Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Record Breaking Party

Greetings friends and family,

The older I get, the more I value other people's time. It means more than ever when people take time to be a part of my life by spending time together and phone calls and emails. Relationships are dynamic. That means if two people aren't building their relationship, then it is degrading.

When I get a free hour after doing things I must do, I spend it doing things I should do. That list of "should do" never gets to zero so I rarely take time to do what I want to do... at least, not without a twinge of guilt. Thinking back to my childhood I remember entire days where my only goal was to improve my bicycle tricks and hang out with my friends. I remember being bored now and then too, which is a foreign concept as a father. Others tell me time management is even more crucial and stressful when kids get into sports and extra curricular activities. Until then I'll continue to love life for what it is today. Part of the realization came about when the 4 Webbs joined our friends to watch their son play soccer.

We had the time and flexibility to go see Ben's game, but their family (and others with school-aged kids) are busy almost every single evening of the week transporting and spectating. Easton spent part of the game playing a race car driving game on my iphone. He's like me in that he'd rather participate than spectate.

Layla assumed her usual role as miss social butterfly and head cheerleader.

I sat on the edge of the field to work on my photography skills of action shots. Easton and Layla asked to take pictures. I gladly let them (individually) sit in front of me and get a photography 101 class. With the strap securely around my neck I let them hold the camera, follow Ben through the view finder, and take copious amounts of pictures. Easton had a slightly better grasp on the aesthetics because the camera angle and tilt were good. He was able to find and track Ben up and down the field pretty well. Layla's pictures were crooked and blurry as she swished the camera back and forth. They both did very well for their first time. My favorite part was watching their faces as they reviewed the picture they just captured and realized "I did that!"

The twin's dental hygiene and health is improving dramatically. twice daily teeth brushing (by mommy and daddy) and they have some fluoride mouthwash stuff. They swish it around in their mouth while counting to ten with their fingers and humming for each number.

Our house hit a new record this past weekend. We blew the top off the old records for number of people in our house and number of people in our pool. We hosted Marisue and Scott's celebration of their twins' 2nd birthday. They both have large families and we loved having them over for a few hours of partying. Here's most of the attendees during dinner prayer time in the greenbelt.

After bellies were filled we did NOT wait 30 minutes before swimming. We're rebels like that. I didn't take time to count the number of people in the pool. I was too busy swimming with the masses and making sure nobody drowned. Layla swam like a fish as she darted between the older boys pounding each other in the face with beach balls.

Easton took a more offensive position with his water gun. He was sliding down the slide or attacking from up high in the hot tub. I like his strategy tactics!

The party was a raging success from what I could tell. The house, pool, and greenbelt accommodated everyone well. These events are exactly what we envisioned as the primary reason we moved here. Did we want more space? Absolutely, but not just for ourselves. "We are blessed so we can be a blessing to others", is probably the closest thing I can get to a family guideline.

Yesterday I slept in a whole 30 minutes (whoopity do). I stumbled into the kitchen and found Snow White and Jake (from the Neverland Pirates) chowing on chocolate chip pancakes.

Just a normal day in our wonderful life, if you ask me. I love seeing Easton and Layla use their imaginations.